suggestion for 5D Mark Free

[Jon Fairhurst]

Originally Posted by Bill Binder

That's how I do it. Not sure it matters too much for photos, but for video, I'd think having a fragmented card could introduce issues at some point (more buffering, dropped frames), even though I've never heard of that.

If you delete all of the files (except the firmware that was added first), there would be no fragmenting risk.

I'm not a formatting purist, but I also like to format the cards regularly, rather than delete files over and over, just in case.

[Julian Frost]

I thought CF technology purposely fragments files in order to make sure all segments of CF memory are written to, rather than just certain areas, to insure longer life of the memory. Maybe that's old technology?

Julian

[Rick Hill]

Originally Posted by Julian Frost

I thought CF technology purposely fragments files in order to make sure all segments of CF memory are written to, rather than just certain areas, to insure longer life of the memory. Maybe that's old technology?

Julian

Yep. Nand Flash technology (the core technology in CF and SD cards) gives you no advantage with respect to sector ordering (unlike a HD where it does matter). This is due to wear leveling which is what you described is called. The sector numbers have no correlation to the physical layout of the memory and therefore no impact on access times.

Access time is the primary effect of fragmentation. In the case of CF it doesn't matter.

[Steve Maller]

Originally Posted by Rick Hill

Yep. Nand Flash technology (the core technology in CF and SD cards) gives you no advantage with respect to sector ordering (unlike a HD where it does matter). This is due to wear leveling which is what you described is called. The sector numbers have no correlation to the physical layout of the memory and therefore no impact on access times.

Access time is the primary effect of fragmentation. In the case of CF it doesn't matter.

Gee, you mean seek time on a flash card isn't of any consequence? Who knew? ;-)